OMAHA, Neb. — Coastal Carolina took advantage of a sloppy performance by Oregon State in coasting to a 6-2 win in Game 6 of the Men’s College World Series at Charles Schwab Stadium on Sunday night.
With their 25th consecutive victory, the 13th-ranked Chanticleers (55-11) are 2-0 in Omaha and in the driver’s seat of Bracket 1. No. 8 Oregon State (48-15-1) will play an elimination game against Louisville at 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The winner of that game will advance to face Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, and would need to beat the Chanticleers again on Thursday in order to advance to the MCWS final series.
It was mistake-filled from the outset for the Beavers. After shortstop Aiva Arquette pulled first baseman Jacob Kreig off the bag with a high throw on the first batter of the game, starting pitcher Ethan Kleinschmit struck out Sebastian Alexander before loading the bases with a walk and a hit batter while also mixing in a balk.
It appeared Kleinschmit had forced in the first run of the game by hitting Blagen Pado with a pitch. But after a video review, Pado was deemed to have intentionally been hit by the full-count pitch and was called for an automatic strike. However, he was quickly picked up by teammate Colby Thorndyke, who lined a bases-clearing, two-out double just out of the reach of a diving Easton Talt in right-center field.
It was Thorndyke’s 17th double of the season and staked Coastal Carolina to a 3-0 lead after a 17-minute top of the first inning.
Talt got the Beavers on the board with a drive to right to open the bottom of the third, hitting his eighth home run of the season on a 2-1 pitch off Chanticleers starter Jacob Morrison. But Oregon’s State’s poor defense struck again shortly thereafter.
A tailor-made double-play ball with one out and two on in the top of the fourth went through the legs of Oregon State second baseman A.J Singer. Instead of OSU being out of the inning, Dean Mihos scored Coastal’s fourth run of the game. The fifth came on a wild pitch to the next batter and was technically the first earned run charged to Kleinschmit.
The Chants continued to pour it on in the fifth, with Mihos greeting reliever Zach Kmatz with an RBI double to extend the lead to 6-1.
Morrison, a redshirt sophomore from Flushing, Mich., was charged with a lone run while striking out seven and throwing 105 pitches over 7 2/3 innings to improve to 12-0 on the season.
Reliever Hayden Johnson was touched for a home run by Gavin Turley to lead off the ninth and was pulled with two outs and runners on first and second. With the potential tying run in the on-deck circle, Chants closer Ryan Lynch struck out Canon Reeder to end the threat and the game.
Kleinschmidt dropped to 8-5 on the season, and was charged with two earned runs on three hits with seven strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
–Derek Harper, Field Level Media
